Chapter 4 Meet me

That morning, Kylo Ren's studio apartment was bustling with activity. Rey arrived early, carrying a backpack filled with sketching supplies and several cans of primer. The faint sunlight filtering through the wide windows illuminated the dust drifting lazily through the otherwise cold, dark room.

Rey studied the black wall that would become her canvas. She pulled out a measuring tape, noting down dimensions and rough sketches in her notebook, her artist's eye already translating empty space into possibility.

Before arriving, Rey had stopped at the Art Supplies Depot near Marina Del Rey, picking up bright acrylic paints, brushes, and a wooden palette. The cashier had looked puzzled when she paid with crumpled bills, the last of her mural earnings. Rey had only one hope: that this project would get her closer to art college.

She decided to start by cleaning the walls, wiping off the dust and grime. As she moved around the room, something caught her eye near the steel workbench - a small trash can, which she remembered being empty the night before.

Curious, she bent down.

Inside were a few crumpled papers, most meaningless scribbles, but one brown document folder looked different. Heavy, sealed tight, the initials "O.S." faintly embossed in the corner.

Heart pounding, Rey opened it carefully.

The first page was a bold-titled document:

"Proposal for Voluntary Severance of Familial Ties."

Below:

Party Requesting Severance: Benjamin Solo

Party Addressed: Leia Organa

It wasn't an official legal document yet, but the draft looked serious. Marginal notes lined the edges in rushed, familiar handwriting.

Beneath the proposal, Rey found a letter bearing the elegant logo of Organa Security. Addressed to "Benjamin" and signed by Leia Organa, or it had been. The signature was violently torn away.

Across the bottom, scrawled in jagged red marker, were two words:

"MEET ME."

Suddenly, the sound of the elevator dinging outside made her jump.

Frantically, she stuffed the papers back into the folder, hiding it behind a pile of paint cans. Her hands shook slightly as she grabbed her rag and forced herself to focus on wiping the wall.

The front door opened. Footsteps echoed.

Kylo Ren had returned.

---

Kylo entered the apartment, his gaze sweeping the room like a blade. He paused, watching Rey, who stood stiffly, cloth in hand.

"Have you started?" he asked, voice even.

Rey turned, summoning a smile. "Yeah..just cleaning first. The paint will stick better."

Kylo nodded slowly, his eyes flickering, briefly , toward the corner where Rey had hidden the folder. Rey's heart pounded, but she kept moving, wiping the same spot twice.

Kylo set his car keys on the steel table and moved to the kitchen.

"What about the budget for supplies?" he asked, pulling open the refrigerator.

"I made a rough estimate," Rey said, forcing her voice steady.

"I'll show you once I finish prepping the wall."

She turned sharply back to her work, silently praying he would drop the conversation.

---

Kylo grabbed a bottle of mineral water, twisting the cap off. Then, without warning, he spoke again - softer, but with an edge.

"Something strange?"

Rey flinched inwardly.

"Strange? No... nothing strange," she said too quickly.

"Why do you ask?"

Kylo watched her closely, as if weighing her words.

"You look... tense."

Rey gave a short, nervous laugh.

"Just nervous about painting in someone's luxury apartment," she said, waving the rag. "Big responsibility."

Kylo didn't reply immediately. He moved to the window, staring out at the hazy city skyline. A beat of silence passed between them before he spoke again, his voice low and almost... uncertain.

"You said you grew up in an orphanage."

Rey froze, her heart thudding.

"Yes," she answered carefully.

Kylo didn't turn. His reflection in the window looked blurred and ghostlike.

"Do you... remember your parents?"

---

The question stabbed deep.

Rey tightened her grip on the rag, her knuckles whitening.

"No," she said quietly. "Not at all. They left me when I was very young."

Bitterness slipped into her voice before she could stop it.

At last, Kylo turned. His face was hard to read, but there was something there - not pity, not exactly - but a quiet understanding.

"I see," he said simply. He turned back toward the window. "Very well. Let me know if you need anything."

---

As Kylo stared outward, Rey fought to steady herself.

But something had been ripped open inside her.

A flash - too quick to grasp fully, flooded her mind:

A man lifting her high in his arms, laughing as butterflies flitted through a vast meadow. Golden grass rolled to the horizon under a soft, breezy sun.

She remembered the warmth of his chest, the smell of sun and wildflowers.

She remembered feeling safe.

But the man's face was a blur, lost in the folds of memory. The image flickered and died, leaving a sharp ache behind.

Rey blinked hard, pushing the memory down. She focused on the wall, but her mind spun.

Kylo still stood silently by the window, oblivious to the whirlwind he had stirred inside her.

---

She watched his silhouette.

And for the first time, she wondered if her strange familiarity with Kylo wasn't just coincidence.

Somehow, her search for answers - about him and about herself - had become deeply, dangerously entangled.

She thought of the documents.

The name Benjamin Solo.

The name Leia Organa.

Organa Security.

A massive company, if she remembered right. She had seen the name in news articles, associated with security contracts and influence in California.

Who was Leia Organa to Benjamin Solo? Why sever ties? And why was the letter violently torn, as if something far more painful had been hidden there?

The scrawled red words MEET ME burned behind her eyes.

She tightened her jaw, feeling her resolve harden.

As long as she stayed in this apartment, working on this mural, she would uncover the truth. About Benjamin Solo. About herself.

And maybe... about what bound them together across all the darkness between them.